Yu-Gi-Oh! Aesir
by ClearMindStiles
Summary: KaibaTech Academy, a school for the best students and/or the best duelists, is now home to Yuudai Mitsuko and his friends, Ren, Misaki and Izumi. All four of them are thrust into a world of chaos when Yuudai unlocks his Aesir power, and gains the power of Guardian Arc, a card of unknown origins that is part of an elite set. Rater T to be safe.
1. the Aesir Unlocked (Part One)

**Season 1, Episode 1**

Yuudai Mitsuko floats towards a giant, dark object. It looks monstrous, with what appears to be tendrils of black smoke wrapping itself around the tower, moving upwards slowly. Red lights can be seen within the tendrils, making it look evil. "What is that…?" He is completely mesmerised, unable to control his actions. As he speeds up, he feels a rush through his body, and thrusts his left hand ahead. Red stripes, like a tigers', stretch from his middle and little fingers, as well as his thumb. They move up his arm, spiralling, none of them quite touching, until they reach his shoulder blade, at which point they stop, and turn, meeting together, and moving up his neck, forming some sort of Duel Gazer-like marking.

He reaches the tower, and flies through an opening between two dragon statues, landing atop a pillar that starts at the very bottom of the tower, which can't be seen through the white mist below. "What is this place…?" He looks up, and sees a ring of five large, white, marble statues above him. Each statue shows a male, in what appears to be armour. On their wrists are what look like some sort of ancient Duel Pad, with images of cards carved into the Monster Zones. His eyes are drawn to the largest of the statues, which depicts a more magnificent-looking figure. Unlike the others, this one has a helmet on, rounded with lines running down either side, crossing over the eyes. Also unlike the others, this one has a shiny black metal trim, making it stand out. Like some sort of king, it stands, looking victorious. One of the monsters on its Duel Pad changes, the carving becomes a card, which shoots down into Yuudai's hand. He looks at it, and realises that the image on the card shows the figure that the statue was made to look like. "What the…" Suddenly, he's pulled away, out the opening he came in from, across the sky, and back into his awareness that he's asleep.

As suddenly as he was pulled away from the tower, Yuudai jumps out of bed, instantly forgetting about the dream, "FIRST DAY!" He yells this out, echoing throughout the house. Minutes later, he's ready for school, and slings his backpack over his shoulder, and slides his Duel Pad on. He rushes down the stairs and into the living room, "Akai, deck!" His older brother throws Yuudai's deck holder to him, "Good luck." He smiles, happy his brother had started his journey down the dueling road.

"See ya!" Yuudai shoots out the front door.

"WHAT ABOUT BREAKFAST!?"

While he runs down the road, Yuudai pulls his board out of his bag, turns it on and throws it ahead. He jumps on, and soars down the street. Not long later, another boy, with green eyes and dark red hair with white streaks, "Yuudai!" He speeds over on his own board. Ren Ayumu, one of Yuudai's best friends, met up with Yuudai every morning on the way to school, "Excited for the first day?" They hover next to each other, both trying to gain speed on the other.

"First day at KaibaTech, of course I'm excited!" They pass over a hill, and the skyscraper that houses KaibaCorp, along with KaibaTech Academy, comes into their view, "The entire courtyard is dedicated to dueling, so it's amazing by default."

"That's not the half of it. All students get access to the top five floors!"

"Seriously!?" Yuudai is overjoyed to hear that, having heard all about the Duel Centre, "This is even better than I thought!" They reach a road, and stomp on the back of their boards, causing them to soar over the road and cars, and lower back into the standard hovering height on the other side.

They see a white bus, with all-sorts of holographic advertisements and transmissions covering it. Seeing the number '738', they recognise it as the bus their friend, Misaki, had told them she was catching to school. Sure enough, they see her through the window, and she waves to them. Misaki has white hair with two blue wisps at the front, as well as blue eyes that match her wisps. Next to her is Kataru, one of her close friends, "Do Yuudai and Ren ever take the bus like normal people?"

Misaki laughs, "Nah, they're not normal people." Both of them wear the white shirts and skirts that are the girls KaibaTech Academy uniform. Like the short-sleeved shirt and trousers the boys wear, they have the school's logo, which sis an outline of the Blue Eyes White Dragon's head with the 'KC' of KaibaCorp inside the outline, and a gold, metal 'A'. Misaki sighs, having not seen either Yuudai or Ren all summer. Although she would never admit it to Yuudai, or herself, but she'd had a crush on him for years, even though it was blatantly obvious he wanted someone else.

Yuudai and Ren reach the KaibaCorp Tower, with the bus pulling in behind them. Misaki rushes off the bus and runs over to the two boys, and pulls them in for a hug, "It's been ages!"

"You only messaged us last night!" Ren pats her on the back, "But I know how you feel."

Misaki pulls back, "I'm so excited! We actually got into the school! I'm so happy!" She strokes her pink Duel Pad, "I'm so excited to get our Duel Gazers! My old one broke over the summer."

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about the Duel Gazers! We get complimentary KaibaCorp ones!" Yuudai jumps up into the air, overjoyed.

"GUYS!" Izumi, a beautiful girl with long black, white-tipped, hair, hurries over.

Yuudai sees her and his eyes light up, incredibly happy to see her, "Hey Izumi!" As they high-five, Misaki lowers her head. She thought Izumi was the person Yuudai had feelings for, unaware that it wasn't anyone she'd ever met.

"All students are to report to Level 60 for distribution of equipment."

Over the following hour, Yuudai and his friends receive their Duel Gazers, stationary and books, sit through the welcome ceremony, and are taken to the locker floor. Quickly grabbing four lockers in a row, Yuudai, Ren, Misaki and Izumi start decorating the insides. The two girls put up posters from their favourite movies and TV shows, and the two boys with posters of their favourite professional duelists, both of them putting up a poster of Yuudai's brother, Akai. "This is so cool!" Yuudai smiles, "These lockers are…like…twice the size of the ones at Middle School! It even has this section at the top to put our Duel Pads! I LOVE IT!"

"Haha!" Ren laughs, as he puts his blue Duel Pad in its holder, "Kaede would love it here."

Those words hit Yuudai hard, and he slams his locker shut. "REN!" Misaki yells at him, incredibly angry, "WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!" She slaps him across the face, knocking him into the locker. "Are you okay Yuu…" She realises he's gone, "Where'd he go…?"

"He ran off." Izumi looks sad, "Poor thing."

"Sorry! It slipped out!" Misaki hits him again, "I SAID I'M SORRY!" He regrets saying it, and honestly didn't mean to say it, with the words having subconsciously come out. "Hey…where's Izumi gone?"

"Probably off looking for Yuudai. BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID!" She hits him one final time.

* * *

Izumi runs up through the stairwell, knowing exactly where Yuudai will have gone. She reaches 'Floor 62', and rushes into the large Duel Stadium, which is completely white, with a large circular pool at the centre, and a shallow moat around the Duel Field. As she guessed, that's where Yuudai had fled to. She knew the moment she saw it on the map of the school that this would be where he'd go at times like this. He is sat on the ground near the circular pool, "Are you okay, Yuudai?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He looks up at her, "Sorry. I should be over this by now. It's been two years."

Izumi sits down next to him, "Yeah, well, that's what happens. When people close to us are taken away, it hits hard. He might be gone, but at least you still have the memory of your time as best friends."

"Yeah. True."

"Ha! Is somebody having a moment?" They look over to see a boy, their age, with spiked blonde hair, approaching, "You two are awful. You were always moping around in middle school, and it seems you'll continue to do so in senior school!"

Instantly recognising him as Ryota Isamu, his rival, Yuudai stands, "What do you want, Ryota?"

"I want a rematch!" Every time Yuudai and Ryota dueled, they ended up in a draw, but that never stopped Ryota's determination. "This time I'm sure I'll beat you."

"What makes you think I want to duel you again?" He frowns, "Neither of us will win."

"You'll duel me because I challenge you!" He uses Yuudai's weakness against him, "I'm sure Kaede would accept." He smirks when Yuudai clenches his fists, "Struck a nerve, have I?" Yuudai knew Ryota was low, but he didn't think he'd go this low.

"Fine. Lunch break. Here." Yuudai releases his fists, and smiles, "You better be ready."

* * *

"WHAT!?" Ren looks horrified by the fact that Yuudai agreed to a duel, "SERIOUSLY!? YOU NEVER WIN!"

"I never lose either. And I don't plan on starting now." He slides his Duel Pad on, "He might have improved his deck, but so have I!"

"Yeah, I suppose." He notices the two deck holders on Yuudai's belt, and the small screens that show how many cards are in his decks, 56 in his main, and 15 in his extra deck, "I guess you did add a card to your Extra Deck, and some to your main."

"Yeah, I included the core set for that new Purified Knight archetype. They're so cool." The Purified Knight cards had been released only a month ago, but had taken the duel nation by storm. It wasn't that they were overly powerful, it's because they stood alongside Photon Monsters incredibly well, and aided in the summoning of said monsters. "I shuffled around some other cards too. Anything I didn't need I took out, and put in things to help my other cards."

"Good luck." They high-five as Yuudai walks through the doors into the large duel stadium. Ren follows in, and stands alongside Misaki and Izumi at the edge of the Duel Field, "I hope he can win this. Losing on his first day here would be horrible."

"He'll be fine." Misaki and Ren both look at Izumi, who smiles, "I know what's in his deck."

"Ready to lose, Yuudai?" Ryota laughs, "I've improved my deck a lot. I can't believe you're actually considering this!"

Yuudai was feeling lucky for some reason, and wasn't going to bring himself to admitting defeat, "You're not the only one who can improve their deck." He turns his Duel Gazer on.

"Augmented Reality link established."

"I'm not gonna let my guard down!"

"Fine." The two duelists draw their first five cards and look over them. They both smile, happy with the cards they drew. "Since I challenged you, you can have the first turn."

"I wouldn't have had it any other way!" Yuudai smiles, and places his finger on the top card, "Here goes…DRAW!" He pulls his finger away, dragging the top card out to, and slides another finger under it. Looking at the card, he smiles, "I start by summoning a monster in face-down defence mode!" He slaps the card he drew onto his Duel Pad, and a larger, holographic version of the card appears on the field. "Next, I play two face-down cards. I'll end my turn with that." _I'm all set. If he attacks my face-down, Purified Vision Knight, he'll almost certainly lose Life Points, unless he can summon a monster with more than 2500ATK in his turn._

"Nice and simple. Good." He draws his card, and puts it in his hand, "Okay then, let's get this started!" He places a card on his Duel Pad, "I summon Second Strength Hydra!" _**[Second Strength Hydra | ATK: 1700/DEF: 1000 |LV: 4]**_ From the pool at the centre, two reptilian hands reach out and grab the sides. The giant, snake-like reptile pulls itself from the water. The scales that cover it are black, and armour-like. Unlike most representations of Hydra in Duel Monsters, this one only has one head. "Next, I play the spell card, Epoch of Myth!" The card appears on the field, and from it a tendril of light reaches out and attaches to the Hydra, "This gives him an extra 300 Life Points during each Battle Phase!" _**[Second Strength Hydra | ATK: 1700 - 2000]**_

Ren gulps, "Hopefully Yuudai's face-down monster has a high DEF. Otherwise, he'll struggle to build up a defence next turn."

"Now, Second Strength Hydra, ATTACK!" He points at Yuudai's facedown, a maniacal look on his face. The Hydra pulls its' head back, then darts forward, striking the card, which flips face-up on contact. _**[Purified Vision Knight | ATK: 1800/DEF: 2500 | LV: 4] **_The shining white knight rises, with its shield forward, and the Hydra shatters. **[Ryota LP: 4000 - 3500] **"Dang. I thought I had it!" He sighs, "Oh well. I can still activate his effect!"

"And what would that be?" Yuudai talks sarcastically, having seen Ryota pull this trick a dozen times before.

"When Second Strength Hydra is destroyed in battle, I can summon the two First Strength Hydra from my deck!" _**[First Strength Hydra | ATK: 1000/DEF: 300 | LV: 2]**_ Yuudai rolls his eyes, tired of the same tricks. "I end my turn with a face-down."

"Okay, draw!" Yuudai looks at the card, "Okay then, I summon Totalus the Black!" _**[Totalus the Black | ATK: 1400/DEF: 1400 | LV: 3]**_ A black mist begins to roll across the Duel Stadium, which pulls together to form some type of humanoid creature, with a somewhat bestial appearance, "Next, I activate the effect of Totalus. By discarding one card from my hand, his ATK points double until the end of my turn!" _**[Totalus the Black | ATK: 1400 - 2800]**_ Totalus grows in size, a visual representation of his power increase. "Now, I attack one of your First Strength Hydras!" Totalus lunges into the air, and then dives at the First Strength Hydra on the left, shattering it on impact.

"I activate my trap card, Reflective Force!" Ryota's face-down flips over, "First Strength Hydra is still destroyed, but the 1800 points of damage I would have received, are instead sent back at you!"

"WHAT!?" **[Yuudai LP: 4000 - 2200]**

"Oh no…" Misaki looks worried, "I've never seen Ryota use that card before."

"Hopefully he doesn't have any more tricks like that. Otherwise, Yuudai's toast." Ren bites his lip, "Come on, Yuudai…"

"I'll admit, that was a good move." He puts a card face-down, "I'll leave that there, and end my turn."

"Ha! Do you still think I won't win? Cause this next move is going to make your situation worst." He draws a card, "Perfect. I now summon Minotaur Mayhem!" _**[Minotaur Mayhem | ATK: 1600/DEF: 1900 | LV: 3]**_ "Next, I…"

Before he can finish speaking, he falls into silence. Ren and Misaki watch in awe, while Izumi smiles. Yuudai doesn't realise what's happening, and simply asks, "Why are you all staring at me?" His arms glow red, with his eyes flashing between their typical blue, and a shade of red similar to the glowing. Yuudai suddenly notices the glowing, and stumbles backwards, "What the h…" Everything around him is engulfed in light. He sees the tower from his dream, and remembers what happened. "Oh yeah…" He doesn't think anything of it at first, until it occurs to him that he was in the middle of a duel, "Oh no! I collapsed!" He starts breathing heavily as he flies into the tower, "I fainted, didn't I?"

"I wouldn't say fainted." He's surprised to hear the voice, of a man, talking to him, "Your mind isn't in your body. This is all happening inside a small fraction of a second. You'll be back before anything happens."

"Where…" He realises the voice came from above. Looking up, he sees the statues he had in the dream, and realises that sat at the feet of the largest, is the man it's a statue of, "Who are you?"

"That's the secret you'll have to find out."

Yuudai smiles, "I love mysteries!"

"I know you do." Yuudai gives him a confused look, "It's a long story. You'll understand one day." Although his voice is muffled by the helmet, Yuudai can't help but feel like he recognises the voice. "I've been watching you for the day. It seems you haven't noticed the addition to your Extra Deck."

"Huh?" Yuudai looks at the Extra Deck holder, and sees the screen reads '15', "What the…" He opens it and pulls the cards out, and begins looking through them, until he comes to a card called 'Guardian Arc', "You're right. When did that get there?"

"Last night. It's time for you to begin your journey, and discover the secrets of the Aether." He jumps down and lands beside Yuudai, "But to do that you need me. Do you accept?"

After thinking it through in his head for a while, he nods, "Let's rock 'em." He holds his hand out, "I accept." The man grabs Yuudai's hand, and everything around them disappears. Yuudai finds himself back in the Duel Stadium, a great smile on his face, "This is going to be amazing!" The red markings from his dream begin to appear, spiralling up his arm. His Duel Pad changes, becoming more futuristic looking. His Duel Gazer merges with his face, becoming red markings around his eye, but without losing the vision of the duel. As everyone stares at him, his body changes, and he ends up looking several years older. His clothes glow, and when it stops they're gone, replaced with a white, skintight jumpsuit, with black armour plates on his chest, with black metal gloves, boots and belt, "Things just got real interesting." He smiles, with his left eye staying blue, and his right becoming red.


	2. the Aesir Unlocked (Part Two)

**Season 1, Episode 2**

Ryota, Ren and Misaki stare in awe at Yuudai, after his grand transformation, "Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to duel?"

"Yeah…right…" He takes a deep breath, "I anchor my Water-attribute First Strength Hydra and Light-attribute Minotaur Mayhem…" Both of them begin to glow golden, as they move apart. Between them, a golden sphere appears, and starts to expand, "The Anchor of Light and Anchor of Water allow for Purity to be reached! I Photon Summon White Rapids Bake-Kujira!" _**[White Rapids Bake-Kujira |ATK: 2700/DEF: 2000 | LV: 8]**_ The golden sphere explodes, revealing the giant undead whale skeleton that is White Rapids Bake-Kujira. The skeleton is clean white, with a faint golden glow. "Okay then, let's get this fired up!" He thrusts his hand into the air, "I equip Minotaur Mayhem with Gift of the Gods. This gives him an additional 1000ATK!" _**[Minotaur Mayhem | ATK: 1600 – 2600] **_The Minotaur grows in size, and prepares itself to attack.

"That could end the duel here and now…" Ren looks worried, but neither Misaki nor Izumi pay any attention, as they both remain focused on Yuudai's transformation.

"I assume you'll be attacking." Yuudai smiles, "Good."

"Wha…?" Ryota looks shocked, and suddenly begins to rethink what he's doing, "I…uh…place a face-down and end my turn."

"Yuudai certainly seems even more confident. Even more than usual." Again, Ren finds himself talking to himself.

Izumi enters his one-sided conversation, "Whatever it is that happened to him, he's different. I can't place my finger on it, but he's changed."

Yuudai smiles as he draws, "I'm gonna reach for the light!" He looks at the card, and instantly places it on his field, "Unfortunately for you, if you **had** attacked me in your last turn, neither of my Face-Downs could have done anything to stop it. But I can't give you the same guarantee this time around." He smiles, "Next, I play the spell card Lock-Down! This stops you from activating the effects of all spell and trap cards until the end of my turn!" The Face-Downs on Ryota's field turn blue, with chains wrapping around them, "Now, Totalus the Black, attack his White Rapids Bake-Kujira!" Totalus the Black lunges into the air, then dives at the skeletal whale. The skeleton cracks. **[Ryota LP: 3500 - 3400]** "I'm aware of his effect though. My spell card doesn't stop monster effects, so he can't be destroyed. His effect means that only Water-attribute monsters can destroy your Bake-Kujira. **But** any attacks for the rest of that Battle Phase go straight to you!"

Ryota looks stunned, having not taken into account that Yuudai would know what Bake-Kujira's effect was, "I'll only lose 1800 Life Points, at least." He takes a deep breath, and prepares for the next attack.

"Purified Vision Knight, attack Ryota directly!" The knight runs at Ryota, and crashes straight into Ryota, knocking him over. **[Ryota LP: 2400 - 600]** "I end my turn with that."

Standing up once again, Ryota takes deep breaths, "Draw!" He looks at the card, and adds it to his hand, "I'll start by summoning Phoenix Wave!" _**[Phoenix Wave | ATK: 1000/DEF: 0 |LV: 2]**_ A flaming bird breaks through the ceiling and lands next to Ryota, "Next, I activate its effect! When Phoenix Wave is normal summoned, I can summon a LV 3 Fire attribute monster from my deck. So, I summon to the field my other Phoenix Wave!" Through the hole left by the first, the second Phoenix Wave flies in and lands next to the other, "Too bad his effect can't be activated by a special summon." He smiles, "Bake-Kurija's other effect stops him from attacking the turn after he's attacked, so he's out. Now that my Hydra and Minotaur are anchors, they can't attack. But I still have my Phoenixes." He holds a card out, which is magnified by the Duel Gazers of those watching, "Fire Can't Be Stopped. This spell allows all Fire-attribute monsters under my control to attack you directly. So here goes: Both Phoenix Waves, attack! Blistering Wing!" The two Phoenixes become completely fire, and shoot at Ryota, moving around the monsters in the way.

"Oh well." **[Yuudai LP: 2200 – 200]** "This duel won't be lasting much longer anyway."

"Yeah, you're right!" Ryota's ability to attack directly has given him his confidence back, "I'm gonna win this!" He laughs, "I'll be ending my turn with that."

Yuudai draws a card, "I'm going to make this simple. The Anchor of Light and Anchor of Dark allow for Purity to be reached! I Photon Summon XXV: Guardian Arc!" _**[XXV: Guardian Arc | ATK: 2500/DEF: 2000 | LV: 8]**_ Totalus the Black and Purified Vision Knight begin to glow gold, and a sphere the same colour appears between them. They move apart, as the sphere explodes, and a beam of light shoots down. When the light fades, a white soldier stands in its place. The armour is tight, with a somewhat futuristic appearance to it. The trim of the armour is black, with a series of black gems running down either side of his torso. Yuudai smiles, happy to see the king-like figure from his dream under his control, and begins to laugh. "Next, I play the spell card Lore Recovery! This allows me to add one spell card in my graveyard to my hand. Speaking of which, I now play it! Lock-Down!" Ryota begins to panic, knowing that Guardian Arc is going to win the duel, with his trap card locked down, "Now, let's end this!" He thrusts his hand forward, "Guardian Arc, attack! Dark Aesir Might!" Guardian Arc pulls a giant, black, shiny sword from the holder on his back. He throws the sword up, with it arcing so it hits one of the Phoenix Waves.

"NO!" As a pulse of darkness rushes across the field, all the holograms begin to shatter, and all the 'damage' to the Duel Stadium reverts to normal. Finally, Guardian Arc shatters. **[Ryota LP: 600 – 0]**

"Yes." Yuudai smiles as his Duel Gazer unmerges from his face, and his eyes turn blue again. The armour turns back into his uniform, and he returns to his normal age. Suddenly, his calmness ends, and he begins to freak out, "Wait…WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" He starts breathing heavily, "I just…but I…"

Ren runs over, "That was awesome! That Guardian Arc is awesome!"

"I…I don't know…what? I…" He faints.

* * *

As he comes back into consciousness, Yuudai begins to open his eyes, but snaps them shut again because they can't adjust to the light fast enough. He slowly opens them, "Ow. My head hurts."

"Yuudai!" Misaki hugs him, overjoyed to see him awake. "You've been out for hours."

"Ugh, I feel horrible." He suddenly realises he doesn't have his belt on, "WHERE'S MY DECK!?" He looks around and can't see it.

"It's in your locker."

"How'd you get in?" He looks confused, having not told them the password he chose.

"Your favourite card is Number 47: Nightmare Shark, and you hate putting the whole name in. So you only ever put NightmareShark in." She laughs, "You're an idiot."

"I did better than you last year! I got twice as many A's as you." He climbs out of the bed, and stands up, feeling shaky at first, but quickly getting his balance. "Wait…what happened back in the Duel stadium!?"

"You don't know!?" Misaki looks incredibly shocked, "We were thinking it was some kind of Duel Gazer malfunction or something, but then Izumi pointed out that your personality changed, not just your appearance."

Yuudai opens his mouth to tell her about what he saw, about the tower and the knight, but decides that he should hold it off until he knows more himself, "I…I don't know…" He sighs, "Maybe it'll come back to me."

"I think you're in trouble though." Yuudai turns his head and stares at her, "Principal Medici asked me to tell you that he wants to see you in his office."

Gulping, Yuudai takes a deep breath, worried he'd done something wrong.

* * *

The principal, a tall man who wears a white coat similar to the one worn by Seto Kaiba decades before, sits at his desk, watching a duel on the large screen before him. The duel is of Akai, Yuudai's brother, in the grand final of the Duel Domain Tournament a year ago. Beside Akai is a giant, red dragon with small volcano-like structures along its spine, with flames roaring out of them. The door opens and Yuudai stumbles into the room, "I was told you wanted to see me."

"Ah, yes. Yuudai." Medici waves him over, "Sit down." Yuudai does as the principal says, and sits in the guest seat, which he finds surprisingly comfortable. Medici looks at the screen, then at Yuudai, "You're good." He laughs, "You got into this school without anyone realising who you are."

"What do you…"

"Yuudai Mitsuko. Younger brother of Akai Mitsuko. I'll admit, I didn't notice the visual similarities, until your duel with Ryota at lunch." Yuudai looks surprised nobody had figured it out, since Yuudai and Akai both had wave blonde hair, with two red spikes of hair just above each ear, then there was the obvious surname, "When I saw you duel I knew you were his brother. Not because of your personality, or because of your looks, but because of…" He brings up a hologram from the duel, of Totalus the Black, "This card is incredibly rare. So rare, that few duelists dare to use it in a duel, in fear they might damage it or lose it. Your brother however, believed that cards aren't collectibles. They're allies. And there's no point in an ally that sits back and does nothing. He used it, and now so do you." The hologram shatters, "So two brothers with insane dueling skills? That's rare."

"Actually, I'm a poor duelist." Yuudai blushes, "I lose most of my duels. That was the first time I ever beat Ryota. We've been tied for years."

"That's not exactly true." When Yuudai gives him a shocked look, Medici continues, "You're far from a poor duelist." He stands, and a number of holograms appear around his giant office, each of cards in Yuudai's deck, and freeze-frames of Yuudai himself, "You have amazing skill. You know how to use your cards. Your problem, is getting cards that fit together. If your deck was more connected, you'd be near-unstoppable. That's why your brother's deck works so well. He can summon all-sorts of monsters in a single turn, because they work."

"So…why did you want me here?"

"To tell you never to give up. You're a great duelist, and one day I can guarantee you'll rival your brother, probably even surpass him." The holograms shatter, and Medici walks back to his chair and sits down, "Reach for the light, as you put it."

"Thanks."

"Now get out of my office. You should be in class."

Yuudai falls off of his chair, completely shocked by the sudden change in attitude. He hurries to the door, "Bye, Principle…" He can't remember the principal's name, so he simply closes the door.

* * *

Yuudai and Ren skate along a road, heading home after school, "Do you have any idea what all that was about earlier?" Ren is concerned, fearing that something evil is afoot.

"I honestly have no idea. It just…happened." He decides that even Ren can't know about the vision, "Maybe we'll find out more. Maybe not." He shrugs his shoulders, "Only one way to find out."

They ride along, both with great smiles on their faces, "This is going to be a great year."

"Yeah. It will be!" Yuudai's face lights up, becoming even more happy hearing that, "We'll reach for the…" He sees a strange man running across the road. He looks terrified, so Yuudai turns and follows him, "Hey…you! Are you okay?"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He runs down an alleyway, with Yuudai following closely behind.

As Yuudai catches up to him, he slows down to stay level, "What are you running from?"

The man tries to speed up, but is already running as fast as he can, "Just STAY AWAY!"

They come out the alleyway into a park, where the man trips and hits the ground. Yuudai finds himself being pushed off of his hoverboard, and briefly catches the dark blue coat of the person who pushed him. Hurt, Yuudai sits up to see the man in the coat grab the extra deck of the man he'd chased, "I knew it. You're another wannabe who pretends to have cards he doesn't."

"Please, leave me alone!"

"I will. You're worthless to me." The man drops the cards, causing them to spread out around his victim.

"WHO ARE YOU!?"

Yuudai's yelling startles the person in blue, who looks over. He has blue eyes, just like Yuudai's, and black buzz-cut hair with dark blue streaks across the sides. Yuudai stares in awe at the person before him, having not seen them in two years, "Kaede…? But…you…you died…"

Kaede stares back at Yuudai, shocked, before turning back to his serious expression, "Stay out of this. I'm doing this to protect you!" Glowing, bright red hexagons appear all over him, and his body disappears, leaving the hexagons floating mid-air, before they fade into nothing. Yuudai sits on the ground, completely in shock.

Ren rushes out of the alleyway and sees Yuudai in his stunned condition, "Yuudai, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost…"

"I…" He struggles to speak, "I…I think I have…"

* * *

Water drips from the ceiling of a tunnel, and splashes into the shallow waters below. The sound echoes through the tunnel, all the way through to an intersection for tunnels. At the centre of the dome that connects the grey-walled tunnels, a man stands. From his waist down he wears white armour, almost identical to that of XXV: Guardian Arc, and a black shirt with golden lines down the back. He stands, silently, listening to the echoes from the tunnels. Chains wrapped around his wrist connect him to the ground, trapping him there. He hears a rushing sound, and looks up. The hatch above him flips open, and several moments later water rushes out. As the man struggles to stand under the force of the cascading water, the man's left eye begins to glow. His entire body glows golden, faintly, and the water splits apart above him, relieving him of the strain. The additional water rushes through the tunnels, creating an intense echoing effect. "I told you, Hari. You can't resist your power. You **will** serve us."

* * *

**PHOTON SUMMONING: **A type of summoning I developed for this series.

Photon Monsters are all Light-attribute. They all have standard 'Photon' and 'Effect' type, along with one or two other types (Which are kind of like a second Attribute), that differ between monsters (These differing types are called the monster's 'Sub-Class').

There are two requirements to Photon Summon:

- One Light-attribute Monster

- One Monster with an Attribute equivalent to one of the desired Photon Monster's types.

These two monsters become 'Anchors', which remain on the field, but can't be attack or be attacked (effects can be activated). Monsters that are already Anchors can be recycled, and used as Anchors for another Photon Monster, provided they meet the requirements for that second Photon Monster.

Some Photon monsters with two Sub-Classes require a monster with an Attribute equivalent for each.


	3. Recovery Duel

**Season 1, Episode 3**

Two KaibaTech Academy students duel in the courtyard of the school, "Now let's finish this duel!" One of them thrusts his hand into the air, "Planet: Jupiter, attack directly!" In the hologram of their duel, the planets Jupiter and Mars are visible, and large, from their point of view. From Jupiter, a blast of pressurised wind shoots at Saku, the other duelist. **[Saku LP: 1300 – 0]** "Ha! I win!" The holograms fade and the winner, Kagimaru, begins laughing, "I've now beaten all the best duelists in school!" He cheers for himself.

Saku looks shocked, "WHAT!? EVEN YUUDAI!?"

This hits Kagimaru hard, "Yuudai?"

"Yeah, after his duel against Ryota last week, they're saying he's one of the best duelists in school."

"Hmm…I guess I have to duel him too. Then I'll be the best in school!"

* * *

Misaki and Kataru walk down the road, talking to each other, "No, Taiyou is the Dragon user. Akai is the Fire user."

"Oooh. And Akai is Yuudai's brother…?"

"Yes."

"Oooh, that makes sense." Kataru sees Yuudai up ahead, entering his garden, "Hey, isn't that Yuudai?"

Misaki sees him and yells out, "YUUDAI!" She begins to run down the road towards Yuudai as he walks towards the front door of his house.

Honouring her with nothing but a quick glance, Yuudai ignores her and walks through the front door, closing it behind him. "So did he actually see that Kaede guy?"

"He says he did, so I believe him." Misaki looks really saddened, and is. She's never seen Yuudai in this sort of state. He hadn't dueled in a week, which for him was a record. "Poor guy. He must be devastated."

"Wait…didn't you tell me Kaede…you know…went to a brighter place?" She was referring to the belief that Kaede passed away.

"He went missing. After a while it was kind of assumed that he…yeah…" Once Kataru catches up to her, they walk alongside each other.

"So who was Kaede exactly?"

"Oh, well two-or-so years ago, me and Ren went to Duel Camp. Yuudai's parents decided he didn't need to go so he had no one to hang with for the summer. So he went to the Duel Park, and met Kaede there." As they cross a street, Misaki pulls out a card, "He gave Yuudai this card, as a sign of their friendship." The card is Sentry: Alpha Post, a silver-armoured warrior with a large golden 'A' on the torso, "It's part of an archetype Kaede used. He gave Yuudai the Post Alpha, and kept the Post Omega."

"So when did he…?"

"Shortly after we got back, we went over to his place, and he wasn't there. We went again, and his parents said they hadn't seen him all day. He never showed up, and it was assumed he'd…well…gone to a better place." She sees a figure standing on a roof several houses away, wearing a blue coat. She remembers what Yuudai told her, and realises it must be Kaede, "YOU!" Her face turns red as she yells at him, "YOU INCONSIDERATE, BACK-STABBING SON OF A…" A piece of paper hits her in the face. When she pulls it away, Kaede is gone. Looking at the sheet of paper, she reads it, '_Don't let Yuudai give up. Tell him I'll be free soon. I swear I don't want to hurt him Thanks, Kaede._' She suddenly feels a sinking feeling, and regrets yelling at him. He obviously still cared about his friend, and she felt sorry, even without knowing what he was up to.

* * *

Yuudai walks out of class the next day, ignoring Ren on his way out. he's startled when Kagimaru appears up ahead and yells out, "YUUDAI! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!"

It doesn't stop Yuudai though, and he keeps walking, "Nah."

Kagimaru's face looks shocked, having not expected his challenge to be rejected, "WHAT!? HOW DARE YOU REJECT ME! I DEMAND YOU DUEL ME!"

"Nah." He enters the stairwell, and begins the walk down a floor to the lockers.

* * *

Climbing out of the swimming pool, Yuudai shakes his head, spraying water everywhere. "YUUDAI! DUEL ME!"

"Nah."

Kagimaru frowns, incredibly angry, "Gah…ugh…GRRRR!"

* * *

"In conclusion, Jekyll and Hyde represent…" Mr Ishiji, the KaibaTech Academy English teacher, talks about their reading material, but Yuudai doesn't pay attention. Instead, he scribbles on a piece of paper. Kagimaru leans over, "I challenge you to a duel…"

"Nah."

"WHY NOT!?" Kagimaru yells out, startling the whole class, "JUST DUEL ME!"

"KAGIMARU!" Mr Ishiji glares at him, "Detention."

Misaki, who's sat right behind Yuudai, looks worried.

* * *

Yuudai walks across the courtyard of the KaibaTech Corporation skyscraper. Misaki runs after him, "Yuudai!" He looks over his shoulder at her, then looks forward again and keeps walking. "Yuudai, this is important."

He stops and turns, "What is it?"

"This." She holds out the piece of paper Kaede had thrown her way, and Yuudai takes it.

While reading, Yuudai smiles. He sees Kagimaru walking their way and says, "Sure. I'll duel you."

Kagimaru's face lights up as he activates his Duel Pad, "I'll wipe the floor with you!"

Yuudai smiles and pulls his Duel Pad out of his back pack. In a somewhat exaggerated manoeuvre, he slides it onto his arm and presses the button that activates it, "Duel Pad online!" He quickly puts his Duel Gazer on and those familiar words boom through the speaker of the Gazer, "_Augmented Reality Link Established_". He smiles, "I'd like to see you try!" He draws five cards at the same time as Kagimaru, and they both start laughing.

"The person challenged gets to go first. So good luck."

"You're the one who'll need luck on their side! DRAW!" He draws a sixth card and adds it to his hand. "I start by summoning Time Network Knight!" _**[Time Network Knight | ATK: 1550/DEF:1800 |LV: 3]**_ A beam of pale blue light shoots down from the sky, with bolts of electricity crackling around it. The beam stops, and a man in silver and white, futuristic armour appears, "I activate his effect, which allows me to choose one Time Network monster from the top ten cards of my deck and add it to my field." Holograms of the top ten cards in his deck appear before Yuudai, in a jumbled order to avoid any cheating, "And just what I was hoping for!" He taps an icon on the touchscreen of his Duel Pad, and one of the cards in the top ten of his deck pops out slightly. He takes it and puts it on the field, "I summon Time Network Spinosaurus!" _**[Time Network Spinosaurus | ATK: 2000/DEF:1700 | LV: 4]**_ As with the Knight, a beam of light shoots down, and the cyborg dinosaur materialises, "Next, I play two face-downs, and end my turn."

Kagimaru wasn't expecting that, and starts grinding his teeth, "Okay then…DRAW!" He adds the card to his hand, and scans his options, "Hmm…I summon Mercury!" _**[Mercury |ATK: 1500/DEF:1300 | LV: 3]**_ Yuudai waits for the monster to appear, but doesn't see anything.

"Uh…where is it?"

"Look up, nimrod!"

Yuudai does so, and sees the planet Mercury in orbit of Earth, "Woah! That's awesome!"

"You won't be thinking that when I summon the other planets!" _And beyond…_ Kagimaru thinks to himself about his strategy. "I play a face-down and end my turn."

"Okay, draw!" He smiles, "I summon Purified Citadel Rogue." _**[Purified Citadel Rogue | ATK: 1900/DEF: 2000 | LV: 4]**_ A handsome man with black hair, clean silver armour around his torso, and white pants, appears next to Yuudai. "Time for some fun! I use Purified Citadel Rogue and Time Network Knight as anchors. With the anchors of light and warrior, I Photon summon Time Network Descendant!" _**[Time Network Descendent | ATK: 2800/DEF: 2500 | LV: 8]**_ Time Network Knight and Purified Citadel Rogue begin to glow golden, and separate from each other. A golden sphere appears between them, which explodes, and a beam of pale blue light shoots down. The light ceases, and a tall, muscled being with grey skin and incredibly high-tech armour appears. It resembles a grey, hairless human with a scale-like skin and lizard eyes. "Time Network Descendant is the evolution of humanity, and comes with a warning: Your life points will drop by 500 at the end of each of your end phases, **unless** you discard two cards from your hand."

"WHAT!?"

Misaki laughs, "That whole 'coming back with a warning' thing is so overdone in sci-fi."

"That may be right, but it's Descendant's effect. So as long as he's on the field, it's law." Now, I play the spell card Lock-Down. Neutralising your face-down for the rest of my turn!" He smiles, "I attack Mercury with Descendant!" Time Network Descent draws a sword, which he thrusts up, launching a blast of electricity at the planet. The electricity spreads across the planet." **[Kagimaru LP: 4000 – 2700]** "However, I'm aware of the Planet archetype, and how they can't be destroyed in battle. But still, I have one more monster! Spinosaurus, attack!" The large disk-like spine of the Spinosaurus turns blue with energy, which shoots up at the planet. **[Kagimaru LP: 2700 – 2200]**

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that."

"With that, I'll end my turn." He smiles, happy with himself. "Do your best!"

"Okay. Draw!" He immediately plays the card he drew, "I summon Venus!" _**[Venus | ATK: 1900/DEF: 1700 | LV: 4]**_ The mostly-orange planet appears in the sky. Yuudai laughs, enjoying the duel, "Next, I play the spell card Solar Flare!" The holographic card appears on the field, and an orange-red flare reaches out, "I equip it to Venus, which makes him Light attribute as long as he's on the field! So, let's go Venus!"

"Photon summon…" Yuudai smiles, "Let's see what you've got!"

"Not quite yet. I activate Mercury's effect! It can be considered Fire Attribute, provided it's used to Photon Summon…the SUN!" _**[Sun | ATK: 4000/DEF: 3800 | LV: 12]**_ The two planets begin to glow faintly gold, as a gold sphere appears above them, in front of the sun. It expands, changing colour and becoming a large hologram of the sun, bigger than the actual view of the object from Earth. "Next, I attack Time Network Descendant!"

From the sun, a giant flare shoots down towards the Descendant, "I activate my trap card, Ultimate Shield! I still take Life Point damage, but Descendant remains on the field." **[Yuudai LP: 4000 – 2800]**

"So, your Descendant lives to see another day." Kagimaru laughs, "Oh well. I end my turn."

"DRAW!" Yuudai pulls the top card out and looks at it, "Dang."

Ren walks out of the school to see the duel, "Alright, Yuudai! You're dueling again!" He hurries over to Yuudai, "Looks like he's doing well. Kagimaru doesn't even have any monsters on the field."

"Uh…Ren…" She points up at the sky, where the 'planets' and the 'Sun' are.

"Oh…my…"

_I have no way of taking down his Sun! Anchors can't be attacked, and I have no monsters on my field that can defeat it._ He looks at this cards, "Wait…I summon Chaotic Magician!" _**[Chaotic Magician | ATK: 1750/DEF: 1750 | LV: 4]**_ A magician, similar in appearance to the infamous Dark Magician, except with a ragged, blackened appearance, appears before Yuudai with a pulse of black smoke. "Now, I'm going to reuse Purified Citadel Rogue as my Anchor of Light, and I use Chaotic Magician as my Anchor of Dark! I Photon Summon XXV: Guardian Arc!" Between Purified Citadel Rogue and Chaotic Magician, a golden sphere appears. It quickly explodes and a beam of golden light shoots down. From it emerges the grand Guardian Arc.

"25? So it's part of a series…hmm…" Kagimaru is intrigued by the warrior before him, "It's still no help against the Sun!"

"That's not exactly true, as now I play a spell card, Weapon Wipe-Out!" The card appears on the field, "This 'wipes away' the effect of one of your monsters! Which means Mercury's effect of classing as a Fire Attribute is nullified."

Misaki thinks it through in her head, "That means the Sun loses one of its Anchors, and can't exist…"

"Exactly, Misaki!"

Kagimaru tries to keep his cool, but is visibly worried. His Sun begins to pulse, and explodes. "Oh well, the Sun's effect still works. When he's destroyed, you lose 1000 Life Points!"

"Seems like a fair deal to get rid of your Sun." [**Yuudai LP: 2800 – 1800]** "Now, I use Time Network Descendant to attack Mercury!" Time Network Descendant thrusts his sword up, releasing a beam of energy at Mercury. **[Kagimaru LP: 2200 – 900]** Next, I attack Mercury **again**, this time with Guardian Arc!"

"Not so fast!" Kagimaru activates his trap, "I activate my face-down card, Mirror Force! When you declare an attack, all…"

"Ha! That won't work! Guardian Arc's effect makes him immune to trap cards!" Guardian Arc throws his sword up, straight into Mercury. The attack ends the duel, and the holograms all shatter. **[Kagimaru LP: 900 – 0]** "Aaaaand I win!" He returns all the cards to his deck, with a great smile on his face.

Misaki runs over and hugs him, "Well done! I'm so happy you're better!"

"I would have recovered eventually anyway. And when he can, I know Kaede'll come back."

"I guess I'm not the best duelist in school after all…" Kagimaru sighs, "I'll beat you someday. Just not today."

"Thanks for a fun duel." Yuudai smiles at Kagimaru, "I'll be happy to duel you again sometime."

"Really?" He smiles, "Thanks! Next time it won't be so easy!"

Ren high-fives Yuudai, "Way to go!"

"Thanks. Even though you missed most of it." Yuudai wasn't even bothered, he was just happy he was able to pull himself out of the rough patch.

"Yeah, I had to deal with some stuff." Ren smiles, "Come on, let's find something to do."

Ren, Yuudai and Misaki walk away, completely unaware of the girl with white hair and blank eyes watching them through the glass walls of the building's lobby. _So, the boy is fragile, but his friends help him recover. That's his weakness._

* * *

**Next time on Yu-Gi-Oh! Aesir:**

A prison transfer truck is stopped in transit, releasing the thieves inside. When Yuudai's house becomes one of their targets, he takes it upon himself to stop them.


End file.
